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September 28, 2009

Nice Guys Finish Last

The chattering classes and talking heads clearly want Tom Barrett to run for governor. I don’t. It’s not because I think he would be a formidable candidate who would perhaps block a good conservative from obtaining that office. My reason is more basic than that: Tom Barrett has not been a good mayor.

Wow! Now I feel terrible.

Sure, Tom Barrett is a nice guy. (As I’ve stated in previous posts, this is always the first thing that everyone says about him.) Yes, he got beat up trying to help someone, so I understand that some people who may never have given any thought to him have joined his “nice-guy” fan club. But, really, what has he done as mayor of Wisconsin’s largest city?

Where's the beef?

Tom Barrett is to be admired for having done nothing to embarrass Milwaukee. But he has also done little of substance to help Milwaukee. He has appeared at press conferences, shaken hands, and given pats on the back. Aside from that, the most notable thing he’s done is shave his mustache.

(Looks nice!)

His saving grace may be the hiring of Police Chief Flynn, who has managed to change the perception of Milwaukee as a crime-ridden city. Other than that stroke of luck -- thanks to the Bradley Foundation’s intervention into the mayor’s failed search for a chief – Tom Barrett has merely gone through the motions.

I know this sounds harsh, but I’m not saying anything that hasn’t been said at city hall – or worse. The word from inside is that the mayor has been totally hands off and has left a huge void in city government. In reality, rather than Tom Barrett running the city of Milwaukee, there are four other people doing the real work. They are named below in order of my ranking of them in power/influence:

First, Common Council President Willie Hines has basically taken the reins of city government and nearly single-handedly made Milwaukee more efficient. He’s the one who put forth the audit of police overtime (which Chief Flynn has followed); he cut waste and dedicated more funding to infrastructure. As my alderman, he has been easily accessible. At the same time, he seems to be constantly out working on behalf of the city. If there is one – and ONLY one – reason that I’d want Barrett to be governor, it’s so that Hines could be mayor.

(Barrett 2010. Bad for Wisconsin. Good for Milwaukee! …Hmmm, that needs work.)

Second, Chief of Police Ed Flynn has made MPD more effective and raised morale among officers. (Well maybe not the detectives but....) He has cut overtime and boosted Milwaukee’s confidence in its police force. AND...Thank God for a cool summer.

Third, Rocky Marcoux, as head of the Department of City Development, makes decisions totally independent of Barrett (not that he’s doing a great job) and has carte blanche to do whatever he wants. And fourth, Patrick Curley, the mayor’s chief of staff, is the one who makes day-to-day decisions about what’s good for Milwaukee.

Hines, Flynn, Marcoux and Curley. What.. No Moe?

I'm not a reporter, I just happen to be watching on the day the Mayor of Newark, N.J., Cory Booker, was on Meet the Press. His demeanor impressed me. He referred to Newark as "his city." He had vision for the city and was passionate about the city’s issues. Ownership has its merits.

I see no such passion and vision in Tom Barrett.

What’s clear to me is that Mayor Barrett is hands-off. For example, did you hear the back-story on how 50 of Milwaukee’s finest were sent to Pittsburgh for the G20 Summit? As Dan Bice wrote in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Chief Flynn had decided it was a bad idea – Pittsburgh didn’t have its act together. But Barrett got a call from the mayor of the former Steel City and said, “Sure, why not?” The mayor had no clue what sending police officers to Pittsburgh entailed. A fiasco was born when, instead of sending the legislative file to the Common Council when he first got word, he sat on his hands and waited until the 11th hour. President Hines had to call a special Common Council meeting to get the proper approval.

I’m just saying… Barrett doesn’t run this city.

I’ve heard Mayor Barrett talk about the reasons why he might (or might not) run for governor: family, funds, campaign organization, etc. What I’ve never heard from him is what he would DO as governor. Why does he want the job? Because it’s the job he’s always wanted? (See 2004.) Because it’s a “promotion”? What’s his agenda? What are his goals? What is his vision?

No one knows.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin and Milwaukee are in trouble. They need visionary leadership, passionate involvement and innovative solutions from their executives. I am absolutely in agreement with those people who say Tom Barrett is a nice guy. But nice isn’t good enough.

Comments

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Couldn't say it any better. I like Tom Barrett, he's a nice guy.

I'd like to see him stay put and take over MPS, something that is tragically overdue. If things in Madison don't change, Milwaukee is going to be a dead city. Assuming a Governor Walker, I think business will come back to the state and maybe the city (a tax island though it be). One of the things that business will look at in Milwaukee is education so we need someone to finally turn the school district around.

My ultimate fantasy would be Mayor Hines, MPS Czar Barrett, Governor Walker. Super ultimate-put David Clarke in the Mayor's office. I do respect Mr Hines however given the leadership he has shown on some recent dark days. I'd think he's a benefit to the community whatever position he held.

If Barrett were to run, it could potentially have the positive effect of galvanizing a lot of conservative support around ONE candidate (cough Scott Walker cough). But I'm thinking I might rather just have smaller names run on the Dem side.

Though I no longer live in Milwaukee I would love to see a strong decisive Mayor replace Mr. Barrett.
Yes he is a nice guy but in my opinion not suited for political office. And as far as being in charge of turning the school system around, I would have to see his passion and common sense ideas before I would hand over those reins.
Our State is such disaster thanks to diamond jim and a majority of "nanny" libs in office. The under handed behind closed doors things they have done to our State in the past 9 months is going to take a lot of undoing and re-working.
We need strong leadership with positive ideas and long term visions to bring our State back to being prosperous and gets people back to work.
Scott Walker is the man to do that. Any one the Dems throw out there will be sub-par and they can fight amongst themselves as to who the front runner should be.
In the mean time Mark Neumann is who we have to be concerned with.

Maddie, Neumann is so far under the radar right now that I don't think HE knows what his motivation is.
I think it is a toss up for him right now. Does he want his new "smart homes" to take off, or does he want to be the Governor of Wisconsin?
Mark Neumann, Please stick to building homes so Scott Walker can re-build our State. Thank You!